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Robots developed by 400 high school teams from around the world will be competing this week in the U.S. FIRST championships in O'Fallon, Ill., a St. Louis suburb. The robots will be challenged to shoot discs through goals as they maneuver around one another and then climb a pyramid. Segway inventor Dean Kamen launched the competition 20 years ago to inject a little excitement into STEM education, and educators say the inspiration is working.

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Silicon Valley honored 10 teams looking to better the world with innovations at Thursday night's 13th annual Tech Awards. The top honor went to Segway inventor Dean Kamen for his founding and continuing contribution to the nonprofit For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, which seeks to inspire students in engineering and technology. Other winners included teams that focused on energy-saving cook stoves, artificial intelligence and other things that could benefit humanity.

Hydrophobic nanoparticles sprayed on the surface of a cell phone or other device effectively create a thin halo of dry surrounding air, preventing the device from getting wet. That's how developer Mark Shaw says his Ultra EverDry coating works. It can also be used to combat icing, corrosion and bacteria and is self cleaning as well, Shaw says.

Microscopy and spectroscopy work together in the examination of cells brushed from a cervix or uterus to reveal cancer in the nearby ovaries. The combined method was developed by researchers at Northwestern University and NorthShore University HealthSystem. The hope is to provide a minimally invasive way of detecting ovarian cancer comparable to a pap smear, taking advantage of previously observed "diagnostic changes in cells taken from the endocervix in patients who had ovarian cancer," said Northwestern researcher Vadim Backman.

Remote autonomous sensors in buildings could soon have their own dedicated power source in the form of organic photovoltaic panels. With backing from the U.K.'s Technology Strategy Board, Solar Press is teaming with Gas Sensing Solutions and Seamless Sensing for the project, which will explore developing low-cost power modules to operate sensors to track temperature and humidity and detect dangerous levels of carbon dioxide.

Engineering student Chris Nunes says he's getting a lot more than an ocean engineering degree out of his education by competing in contests for human-powered submarines. "I have learned everything from 3D CAD modeling to team skills, [including] fluid dynamics, mechanical intuition, hardware specification, working with fiberglass, coordinating building efforts, communicating more effectively, working within a budget, general problem solving and mainly the exposure to actually getting things done," Nunes said as he prepares for the 12th International Submarine Races.